'Kept it local, avoided BJP trap': Congress' report card on Karnataka campaign

During the poll campaign which ended on Monday, the Congress top leadership including president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra focused only on two major planks, corruption and five social welfare guarantees, writes ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi:The Congress on Monday said the party’s top leadership kept the Karnataka campaign focused on local issues and did not fall into the trap of the BJP which tried to divert public attention.

During the poll campaign which ended on Monday, the Congress top leadership including president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra focused only on two major planks, corruption and five social welfare guarantees. Party insiders averred that this was perhaps the most carefully designed and executed poll campaign by the Congress in years, preparations for which had been made months in advance.

“Right from the beginning, we sensed that the people were fed up with the 40 percent commission government. So, we regularly highlighted the point initially made by the contractors’ association. We came out with a detailed corruption report card of the state government towards the end of the campaign and flagged the rates that were being charged by for various kinds of works and appointments,” senior state leader BK Hari Prasad said.

“We had also sensed that a large number of people were under economic stress and needed some kind of relief. That led to the five promises like free electricity, women’s allowance, unemployment allowance, free rice and free bus transport for women,” he said. In comparison, said Hari Prasad, “the BJP campaign led by PM Modi was only about comments like “poisonous snake”, “riots will happen if Congress comes to power”, “Congress protects terrorists”, “Congress abused me 91 times”, and “Congress wants to lock Bajrangbali”, while there was nothing specific for the Karnataka voters, who could see the difference in the two campaigns.”

According to senior state leader Prakash Rathod, “Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka repeatedly mentioned corruption and five guarantees in their speeches across the state, the social media teams amplified the points through specially created animation video clips and charts on various social media platforms.”

“As we talked about the five guarantees, it was important to convince the voters also. Hence, Congress chief ministers in Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel and Himachal Pradesh Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu addressed separate pressers to showcase how they had implemented the manifesto promises in their respective states,” said Rathod.

According to party managers, around 70 AICC observers went door to door to explain the five guarantees to the voters across constituencies. According to party insiders, while the party top leadership avoided falling into the BJP’s trap by getting involved in a verbal duel of sorts there were occasions when Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka gave it back to the saffron party.

“Responses like “crying PM” by Priyanka and Kharge, “neglect of local leaders” by Rahul, and “son of the soil” and “jai Bajrangbali, tod bhrashtachar ki nali” by Kharge delivered the Congress party’s message suitably as the PM played the victim card,” said a senior AICC functionary.

“The good thing is our top leaders avoided issues like China, Adani, and Kashmir and kept the campaign local. The voters are sensible and can see through false propaganda. The fact that we had four national level leaders including Sonia Gandhi deployed during the campaign besides the other star campaigners helped us,” he added.